We would like to know why you voted for him, so that we can understand
the significance of this election.

The chess world has been shocked by the election of Tim Hanke. Nobody,
not one person, supported his election campaign. So far, not one
person has come forward to say that he voted for Hanke.

There have even been suggestions that the vote was rigged or the
ballot box stuffed.

Yet, Hanke was one of the top vote getters in almost every region
across the US, so these conspiracy theories have to be discounted.

On December 17, 2002, Hanke posted a message entitled "I am packing my
bags ... " in which he stated that he was dropping out of chess
politics. Yet, only three weeks later, Hanke announced that he was
running for election.

Hanke did not seem to be taking his campaign seriously. He often made
racist, sexist and even pornographic remarks. One of his quotes was,
"Bugger the Chinese".

His campaign platform consisted of dismantling the USCF. He campaigned
to uncouple Chess Life from the USCF and to expel scholastic members
from the USCF, ideas which nobody interested in the future of the USCF
would favor.

Everybody, including probably Hanke himself, expected him to finish
last. Nobody thought he would be elected.

Here are some possible reasons why Hanke was elected. However, we will
not know the answer until the voters who voted for him speak up:

1. Hanke talks more than anybody else. Not only is he one of the most
active posters to this group, but he was posting regularly to e-mail
groups before these newsgroups even existed. Therefore, Hanke was much
better known than most people realized.

2. Hanke often attacked FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, calling
Kirsan a murderer. This gave Hanke the anti-Kirsan vote.

3. Leroy Dubeck, in announcing Steve Doyle as a write-in candidate,
sent out a letter calling for votes for Hanke as well as Doyle. It is
unlikely that Dubeck knew what Hanke really stood for.

4. Nobody took Hanke seriously as a candidate and therefore nobody
attacked him. By contrast, I was attacked more than any other
candidate. I was attacked by Jim Eade in a letter to the voters, the
only letter sent out in this entire campaign. John Fernandez, Bruce
Draney, George John, Stan Booz, Tom Klem, Richard Peterson and several
others attacked me relentlessly. Bill Goichberg posted a website
attacking me. They attacked me because they thought that I might win.
They never thought that Hanke would win, and so they left him alone.

This is only the beginning of a list of possible reasons why Hanke was
elected. However, this is all speculation. Nobody really knows. This
is why I would like to hear from people who actually voted for Hanke,
so that they can tell us why they voted for him.

"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
Will anybody who voted for Tim Hanke please speak up?

We would like to know why you voted for him, so that we can understand
the significance of this election.

The chess world has been shocked by the election of Tim Hanke. Nobody,
not one person, supported his election campaign. So far, not one
person has come forward to say that he voted for Hanke.

There have even been suggestions that the vote was rigged or the
ballot box stuffed.

Yet, Hanke was one of the top vote getters in almost every region
across the US, so these conspiracy theories have to be discounted.

On December 17, 2002, Hanke posted a message entitled "I am packing my
bags ... " in which he stated that he was dropping out of chess
politics. Yet, only three weeks later, Hanke announced that he was
running for election.

Hanke did not seem to be taking his campaign seriously. He often made
racist, sexist and even pornographic remarks. One of his quotes was,
"Bugger the Chinese".

His campaign platform consisted of dismantling the USCF. He campaigned
to uncouple Chess Life from the USCF and to expel scholastic members
from the USCF, ideas which nobody interested in the future of the USCF
would favor.

Everybody, including probably Hanke himself, expected him to finish
last. Nobody thought he would be elected.

Here are some possible reasons why Hanke was elected. However, we will
not know the answer until the voters who voted for him speak up:

1. Hanke talks more than anybody else. Not only is he one of the most
active posters to this group, but he was posting regularly to e-mail
groups before these newsgroups even existed. Therefore, Hanke was much
better known than most people realized.

2. Hanke often attacked FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, calling
Kirsan a murderer. This gave Hanke the anti-Kirsan vote.

3. Leroy Dubeck, in announcing Steve Doyle as a write-in candidate,
sent out a letter calling for votes for Hanke as well as Doyle. It is
unlikely that Dubeck knew what Hanke really stood for.

4. Nobody took Hanke seriously as a candidate and therefore nobody
attacked him. By contrast, I was attacked more than any other
candidate. I was attacked by Jim Eade in a letter to the voters, the
only letter sent out in this entire campaign. John Fernandez, Bruce
Draney, George John, Stan Booz, Tom Klem, Richard Peterson and several
others attacked me relentlessly. Bill Goichberg posted a website
attacking me. They attacked me because they thought that I might win.
They never thought that Hanke would win, and so they left him alone.

This is only the beginning of a list of possible reasons why Hanke was
elected. However, this is all speculation. Nobody really knows. This
is why I would like to hear from people who actually voted for Hanke,
so that they can tell us why they voted for him.

Just to answerSam's question (I assume the thread started with him, but
I can't find the start of it through my ISP), I voted for Hanke as I
publically said I would months ago. Other than the fact I felt he was
forthright with his thoughts and idea, and took the time to answer
questions rather than babble.

One other reason, if my memory serves me correctly, was that Sam also
said something to the effect that Hanke would only get one vote ... his
own.

Looks to me like he got a whole bunch more than two votes ....

John McCumiskey

----------------------------------------------------------
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn
the world, but to save the world through Him. John 3:17

"Sam Sloan" wrote in message
...
Will anybody who voted for Tim Hanke please speak up?

We would like to know why you voted for him, so that we can understand
the significance of this election.

The chess world has been shocked by the election of Tim Hanke. Nobody,
not one person, supported his election campaign. So far, not one
person has come forward to say that he voted for Hanke.

There have even been suggestions that the vote was rigged or the
ballot box stuffed.

Yet, Hanke was one of the top vote getters in almost every region
across the US, so these conspiracy theories have to be discounted.

On December 17, 2002, Hanke posted a message entitled "I am packing my
bags ... " in which he stated that he was dropping out of chess
politics. Yet, only three weeks later, Hanke announced that he was
running for election.

Hanke did not seem to be taking his campaign seriously. He often made
racist, sexist and even pornographic remarks. One of his quotes was,
"Bugger the Chinese".

His campaign platform consisted of dismantling the USCF. He campaigned
to uncouple Chess Life from the USCF and to expel scholastic members
from the USCF, ideas which nobody interested in the future of the USCF
would favor.

Everybody, including probably Hanke himself, expected him to finish
last. Nobody thought he would be elected.

Here are some possible reasons why Hanke was elected. However, we will
not know the answer until the voters who voted for him speak up:

1. Hanke talks more than anybody else. Not only is he one of the most
active posters to this group, but he was posting regularly to e-mail
groups before these newsgroups even existed. Therefore, Hanke was much
better known than most people realized.

2. Hanke often attacked FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, calling
Kirsan a murderer. This gave Hanke the anti-Kirsan vote.

3. Leroy Dubeck, in announcing Steve Doyle as a write-in candidate,
sent out a letter calling for votes for Hanke as well as Doyle. It is
unlikely that Dubeck knew what Hanke really stood for.

4. Nobody took Hanke seriously as a candidate and therefore nobody
attacked him. By contrast, I was attacked more than any other
candidate. I was attacked by Jim Eade in a letter to the voters, the
only letter sent out in this entire campaign. John Fernandez, Bruce
Draney, George John, Stan Booz, Tom Klem, Richard Peterson and several
others attacked me relentlessly. Bill Goichberg posted a website
attacking me. They attacked me because they thought that I might win.
They never thought that Hanke would win, and so they left him alone.

This is only the beginning of a list of possible reasons why Hanke was
elected. However, this is all speculation. Nobody really knows. This
is why I would like to hear from people who actually voted for Hanke,
so that they can tell us why they voted for him.

YOu'd better just go quietly (like you had remained during the time you
were "in hiding" right after the votes came out...and yes, you WERE hiding
because you happened to post on every other newsgroup you belong to during
that time), because no one agrees with you and it just gives more fuel to
our infinite collection of "Sam jokes". :-P

I voted for Hanke because he speaks his mind about the issues and didn't
back down when faced with opposition, some of which was fairly intense from
the likes of Dr. Blair and Sam Sloan.

I voted for Hanke because he's a fresh face with new, interesting ideas and
isn't one of those guys who've sat in power-positions in the USCF and
accomplished little, if anything, execpt to make poor business decisions.

I voted for Hanke because I believe he's got the best interests of chess and
the USCF at heart, without regards to personal profit or professional gain.
Hanke has no agenda other than to clean up the USCF.

I voted for Hanke because he's not the bleeding-heart PC commando so many
politicians try to be. Hanke pulls no punches....I like that.

I voted for Hanke because he stuck around RGCP and answered questions
directed at him honestly, instead of disappearing like Sloan did weeks
before the election -- probably hoping nobody was reading his past posts or
his website.

I voted for Hanke because he's a stand-up guy with good ol' fashioned
American values.

And finally, I voted for Hanke -- and actively encouraged Iowa chessplayers
to vote for Hanke -- because he's NOT Sam Sloan.

Sloan can spout off all the conspiracy theories he wants, but the bottom
line is this: He lost. Again. I'm not sure if he'll ever wake up and
realize he's never going to make it to the Board (and save himself $250),
but he certainly makes this kind of thing entertaining, don't he?

Well said. I too, voted for Hanke for many of the reasons you've
just cited. I think Tim Hanke scored well in the articles that
appeared in Chess Life, and I think this is also the reason that
anyone at all voted for Sam Sloan. It the average voter had read
Sloan's posts here, and had visited his web site, Sloan would have
received far fewer votes than he did.